London Indymedia

Terror profiling nets innocents

imc | 28.09.2005 12:00 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Repression | Technology | Terror War | London

If you think that the police's profiling of terror suspects is something that only happens to other people - think again. Software developer, David Mery, in provided an exclusive radio interview about how he was arrested when he drew the attention of police on the London Underground three weeks after the bomb attacks of July 7th and a week after the failed bomb attacks of the 21st July.

Davids 'crime'? - wearing a rucksack along with an 'unseasonal' jacket and checking his phone messages while waiting for his train. Luckly for David the police refrained from following the shoot-to-kill policy that had resulted in the tragic death of Jean Charles De Menezes less than a week earlier. Instead, they closed Southwark tube station and cordoned off the whole area while the bomb squad checked his bag. Eventually, finding nothing but a laptop in his bag, the orginal officers appologised then arrested anyway. His home was searched and his computers confiscated. You could be next.

[ exclusive interview | Davids account 1,2 | profiling | bloggers unite ]

Tube Photo
Tube Photo


David is keeping a record of how the story develops on his website.

imc

Comments

Hide the following 19 comments

tragic

28.09.2005 18:27

think of it! police searching people! arrrgghh disgusting..

thsi website used to be good, but its now over run with hippies

UNCLE BERNIE


searched, finds nothing, arrests anyway

28.09.2005 20:56

The fact he was searched isn't the problem. It is the reasons they gave and the fact that on finding nothing they choose to arrest him, take his DNA, raid his home and keep his computer after letting him go and taking no further action.

Indymedia used to be good, now it's fully of twat trolls.

disgusted


Make a difference

30.09.2005 14:59

Police are not perfect, they are humans with all the good and bad that implies. Imagine getting up in the morning knowing that you may be required to make a split second decision that could cost or save the lives of dozens of people - its stressful, and impacts your judgement on many other compartatively minor issues.
I spent 10 years of my life as what is apparently referred to as a troll. My business for the last 10 years has been diplomacy, so I guess I have some perspective from both sides of the fence.
As a "troll" I thought I was trying to make a positive difference to peoples lives, I think I did in some small ways. The last 10 years on a paper level probably have made more difference, but who knows, and who gives a s**t?
If you think it can be done better get out there and do it yourself, try and make a real difference, maybe you could do it better than the guy doing it now.

Bob


nice

01.10.2005 19:15

nice one bob
they cant do anything useful or constructive, because they are stupid ( hippies)
if they wanted to bring the 'system' down surley after all these pityful demonstrations and riots ..they must have achieved something?
Ahhh yes..they have cost me money in extra policing to make sure the hippies dont draw on things and climb on buildings and wave banners ooohhh.
there actually in danger of loosing media attention completely, which is what they crave.
hippies hanging outside downing street waving "bush is evil" banners and
placards trying to muscle in on the poor brazilians who had there cousin accidently shot.
what has bush got to do with jean charles de menezes?
you see..they really are dense these hippies, and there not even aware whats happening.
ah well
light another spliff maaaaaan, and stick on the bob dylan.

UNCLE BERNIE


TROLLING for Blair's New Reich party

03.10.2005 16:07

One article, and three TROLLS.

Think about what you have witnessed above. Think about how well you probably think the TROLLS disrupted the conversation. Now think about TROLLING as a specific, well thought out, and well funded political weapon.

Words ARE weapons, and in a war, words WILL be used as weapons. However, as with any weapon, counter measures can be taken.

1) Understand that the New Reich TROLLING will not appear well written or well thought out, even when it COULD easily provide counter arguments on its side. WHY??? Because its primary aim on a discussion forum like this is DISRUPTION. It aims to limit participation through fear and despair. In life, being verbally attacked is often traumatic, and New Reich TROLLS are fully briefed in the psychological significance of the words they use.

2) Trolling seeks to limit participation in a discussion. When any discussion ends up reduced to the same old regulars, if feels like an exclusionary clique.

3) Trolling seeks to make participants overly cautious about their responses. Will I sound stupid? Will I be torn to pieces?

4) Trolling seeks to entangle people in endless, and ever more pointless, flamewars. People with important things to say waste their time responding to trolls, and once the bait is taken, the troll maximises the time they can waste with the respondant.

5) Trolling forces better posters away. The biggest desire of Trolling here is to eliminate the discussion mechanism, or to require a registration mechanism. Indymedia fights back by having the option of eliminated individual posts. Without the victory of change, Trolls hope to target individual posters, and make them give up in disgust.

HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST TROLLS???

Well, if you feel that a post is obviously trolling, as 3 of the above were, treat them like anything really bad in life, and have nothing to do with their words. Consider them invisible!

If you are not sure, but are upset/disrupted by the content of someone's reply, assume that they are a troll, and IGNORE them.

If a troll angers you, make a point of posting. Don't refer to the troll, or their words, but let your own voice sing out loudly.

NEVER RESPOND TO A TROLL, BUT NEVER LET A TROLL PREVENT YOU FROM POSTING YOUR OPINION.

Remember, Blair spends BILLIONS on the organisations that protect him, and project his power. Blair's game at this stage occurs as much in the head, as on the ground. WORDS MATTER. Places like this WILL be targeted, and targeted by people that understand psychology a damned sight better than you.

Black propaganda, and psy-ops are all about psychology. Can a con-man fool you? Can a magician fool you? Many of those working for Blair are trained well beyond those levels.

In the end, do not be put off. You are here because you care. You are targeted because you care. You care because you want to make a difference. Defeating Blair's New Reich Trolls will make some difference.

Oh, and for the TROLLS, the story of the arrest is analagous to this-
in 1936, Hitlers goons stop a jew on the streets of Berlin on suspicion of theft. When they find no stolen wallet on him, they send him to a concentration camp on the basis that some jews may steal wallets. This was the obscene logic the nazis worked under. It should come as no surprise the the New Reich seeks to implement the same logic.

The LACK of ANY evidence for a crime, becomes evidence of CRIMINAL PLANNING to prevent the police from finding EVIDENCE. This is the insane world we now live in!

twilight


Shum mishtake shurely?

03.10.2005 17:12

"Because its primary aim on a discussion forum like this is DISRUPTION"

Erm, twilight this aint a "discussion forum" its a NEWSWIRE

Why don't you put your prolific thoughts onto a blog where people can choose whether or not they want to read them?

Pissed off


exactly

03.10.2005 20:50

thanks twilight.
thanks for proving my point.
you hippies dont even understand what this place is do you?
with all that typing and thinking you managed to say nothing at all. haha
no change there then.
best go and polish your anti bush banner.

UNCLE BERNIE


fools

06.10.2005 21:17

Perhaps you people would prefer it if we all just sat back and pretended our rights weren't being encroached upon. The point of this comment isn't that the guy was arrested, it's that we're moving more and more towards a society where the government can basically do what it likes to citizens, with no accountability. USSR anyone? Just heard that the government still intends to go ahead with plans to lock up "suspects" without trial for months at a time. What's to define a suspect? The say-so of the home secretary, that's what. You people may rail against "hippies", but they're standing up for rights we've enjoyed for centuries.

Adam Cunliffe


of course

09.10.2005 00:57

...and i suppose you'd also tell us, the reason poll tax was dropped by the thatcher government was because of the riots.

Tomorrow you'll be waking up, choosing what to eat for your breakfast.. and maybe even going for walk with your friends & family or partner in the afternoon. cook some dinner later, then a swift pint down the pub with your mates and an early night, because its work on monday.

not much chance of getting shot by a bunch of bandits with ak47's riding a technical on your way to work is there? or gangs rampaging through your street with machetes raping and slaughtering before youve even decided whether to have marmite or jam on your toast.

yeah this country sucks.
maybe try living in mogadishu,if your keen on helping out.. im sure they would welcome you.

UNCLE BERNIE


fascist trolls OUT - no police state

14.10.2005 18:09

These filth writing pro-pig articles as state terror escalates are not just trolls, they are lowlife fascist scum with no respect for basic liberties. Yeh theres a lot wrong with cops searching innocent people. Because, say the innocent person is a little unstable, and the cops have just interfered with them. They will fight back, and the cops will attack them and then charge them with shit. All because the cops picked on them for doing nothing. Second also, because its racist. Ask the minorities most targeted by police terror, if they think the pros outweigh the cons. The whining bigots think pros outweigh cons because theyre quite prepared to sacrifice other people's liberties. Thirdly, what's extra bad here is that cops are persecuting this guy AFTER they searched him AND FOUND HIM INNOCENT. They took his DNA, which is evil because DNA profiling is part of eugenics, and they STOLE his personal property, when they are supposed to be the ones stopping theft (HA HA, 5% of robberies solved last year, so much for the silly myth that cops stop "crime").

Of course there are bigoted right-wing scumbags who cheer on the cops whatever fascist atrocities they commit. I have read about these people in history books about Nazi Germany, how they thought Hitler was doing a good thing sweeping away the trash, how they dismissed their opponents as weak-willed or cowardly. "Hitler's Willing Executioners" is one of the nicer names they get called. Remember folks, evil is not built on a few supposedly "mad" tyrants, but on the conformist bigoted normality of the idiotic "silent majority" and their whinging crackdown-freakery.

As for getting up every morning knowing what you do will affect whether people live or die, this is what activists face every day, because the success or failure of our actions determines whether the slaughter of 500,000 people from hunger and preventable disease by the capitalist system will continue, whether innocent refugees will be deported to their deaths by racist politicians backed by bigoted crackdown freaks, whether the police will be able to go around shooting random black people and Brazilians with impunity, whether the human race and all life on earth will be wiped out by global warming. The pigs on the other hand, wake up every day wondering if they can find another street drinker or sex worker to harass, a beggar or medical marijuana user to drive to their death, or action for a better world to smash with their clubs. That's if they aren't wondering if their ridiculous 30 grand salary for a basic manual job couldn't be topped up by a little extra duty beating up football fans. If you're worried about murders Billy Nazi Troll, why don't you start asking why murderer Tony Blair isnt in jail for butchering Iraqi kids, why the pigs who murdered Menezes arent in jail, why NO pig has EVER been jailed despite that they murder about 60 black people every year, why nobody is in jail for Hatfield, or for the thousands of "excess deaths" due to poverty because the PIGS backed Thatcherism. Also ask why with so many unsolved murders, these Nazi goons can spare so many officers for stopping and searching random black people, sending thousands of cops to smash demonstrations, and enforcing stupid lifestyle regulations such as drug prohibition, ASBOs and so on. Why arent they out solving the unsolved murders then Mr Pig Lover.

Somalia is mostly anarcho-capitalist so of course there's some gangsterism because capitalism is a hierarchic system as well as the state. Not to detract from the heroic resistance of the Somalis to the US imperialists however, and may the Iraqis win too. Victory to the Papuans, the Wazirs, the Zapatistas, the MST, the Manipuris, the Berbers, the piqueteros, the Ogoni, the Maasai, the Palestinians, and every heroic resister against statism and tyranny wherever they rear their ugly heads (pic is from Chile APEC btw). But, what a real stateless society looks like is better exemplified by the peoples of West Papua, though of course they too are forced to fight for survival against the vicious capitalist state. Some of these societies do not even have a word for murder. So-called "crime" is a necessary part of capitalist society, either as functional subtext (self-enrichment by capitalists outside the "rules") or as effect of alienation and poverty and social exclusion. Fuck the crackdown freaks with their idiotic pseudo-explanations which blame individuals for social problems.

Every atrocity by the state must simply fuel the rage of those who would be free!
Let every reactive action of state control, be met by an equal and opposite active reaction by the lovers of freedom!
FUCK PIGS AND FUCK PIGFUCKERS!

fuck pigs fuck pigfuckers


If cops treated me this way...

14.10.2005 18:18

If cops treated me in this way I would have told them to fuck off and refused to let them near my bag because I would be so angry, and they'd probably have killed me, or else had me up on ridiculous charges and thrown me in jail just for resisting their unwarranted interference in my harmless actions.

I object to taking the risk of death or imprisonment every time I use public transport. I happen to think this violates my rights. And I have nothing but contempt for the sickening bigots who, because THEY would be unoffended by such police interference, create a situation where I - as someone slightly different from the norm - am at risk of sudden and arbitrary violence.

What is especially sickening is that these bigots do this in the name of "anti-terrorism". If they don't think I have the right to use public transport free from the risk of being arbitrarily killed or taken hostage by the state, why the fuck do they arrogantly assume themselves to have this right, which they deny to me?

If you ask me, the bigots are the real terrorists, and the worst of all. Bin Laden is evil but at least he has a cause. These bigots spread terror just like bin Laden, for no other cause than their own self-satisfied greed. I have nothing but contempt for them.

frightened


too late

15.10.2005 17:28

your comments could be admirable, the main problems are that your fourty or more years too late.
and the reason your late is because your young. ..young & fulled with hate and ignorance, frightened like sheep, thinking your taking the "different route out maaan" and being individual.
all of your emotions that you cant control will pass once you have travelled the world grown older and learnt a bit.. and hopefuly become a little more wise and open minded.
if you want to overthrow the western governments of today, then you have got a big job on your hands.
basically its not going to happen.
and if you did, what would happen then?
you would be murdered..thats what.
murdered by people who have been locked up in prison for years, because they chopped up a little girl, or shot and raped an innocent man.

all the books on anarchy and all that bull shit, you can through them away, you live in a time where none of this counts, and you need to start realising this.

you f*****g hippes are really stupid, who owns the money and power? who lives in downing street? who controls the worlds economy? etc etc etc etc....

wake up you stupid f*****g hippies

UNCLE BERNIE


Sod off uncle Nazi

16.10.2005 21:36

Yeh rite... if i was a boring old fart like you Uncle Nazi, I would be a fucking pro-state bigoted scumbag like you as well... I think you've just had your spirit broken by the fucking system, too much exposure to the system and its lies. And as for your sad sick ranting about murders etc., why don't you read up on some serious criminological research such as Chambliss's study which shows that the police do not actually prevent or minimise crime but simply manage it on behalf of capitalism, or the myriad studies of deviance amplification. Until then, take your Daily Mail jargon crap and shove it up your tight little conformist ass.

fuck pigs fuck pigfuckers


Travel the world a little...

16.10.2005 21:58

Travel the world says Bernie... well here's some of what you'd find...

Villagers battle police to resist land grab in China
 http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050728/asp/foreign/story_5044108.asp
Police repression of protests in Ecuador, leads to mass popular uprising with government buildings smashed
 http://english.people.com.cn/200508/18/eng20050818_203279.html
Protests hit mining companies in Peru - protester murdered by pigs
 http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-08/2005-08-03-voa13.cfm?CFID=22159336&CFTOKEN=21632886
Mass revolt in Yemen, over prices of basic commodities
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4703173.stm
Racist killing sparks uprising in Perpignan, France
 http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8DF43FF5-34D0-48BA-A9DB-1661CFC5D139.htm
Iranian Kurds in mass revolt
 http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=33892&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
Mass revolt in South Africa - protests, road blockades and battles with police in Cape Town, Khayelitsha, Frankfort, Worcester/de Doorns and Port Elizabeth, as protests over municipal services spread
 http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/628/628p17b.htm
 http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1743095,00.html
 http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=244715&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
 http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1754849,00.html
 http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1754117,00.html
Basques defy protest ban and battle Spanish police in Euskadi
 http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=65286360&p=65z8666z
Papua New Guinea students stone vice-chancellor's car in protest over exams
 http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/png-uni-head-steps-down-over-student-unrest/2005/07/31/1122748527382.html
Kenyan protesters tear down fences in corrupt land sales protest
 http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=39029
Mass revolt by sweatshop workers in Gurgaon, India
 http://www.countercurrents.org/india-reddy180805.htm
Violent arrest and frame-up leads to community uprising in Trinidad
 http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=92724249
 http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=92919863
Pitched battles as pro-democracy students fight police in Nepal
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4744375.stm
Youths shut down power plant during prolonged unrest in Ghana
 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=86657
Kenya constitution protests continue - protesters battle police
 http://www.publiuspundit.com/?p=1391
Anti-"crime" fanatics murder 32 in Nigeria, sparking uprising by traders
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3369674a12,00.html
General strike in Kashmir over death penalty for separatist
 http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2005/August/subcontinent_August162.xml&section=subcontinent&col=
Naga students in Manipur burn down government office to protest police baton charge
 http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Naga+students+protest+govt+decision&id=75717
Mass protests and revolts over services in Tikrit and Samarra, Iraq
 http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0807/iraq.html
 http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/07/07/story210507.html
Afghan protesters storm Bagram airbase/prison over arrests
 http://www.freep.com/news/nw/afghan27e_20050727.htm
Youths block roads and throw stones in Guinea in protests over poverty
 http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_10348.html
 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-6DU5VB?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=ACOS-635PLK
Mass protests over neoliberal "reforms" in Panama
 http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-05-25-voa22.cfm
Prison uprisings across the world
 http://www.arap.so36.net/prison/riot/riot2005.html
Revolt by Thai migrant workers in Taiwan
 http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/08/22/taiwan.thaiworkers.reut/index.html

And this is just the most outstanding among the very recent events (no mention there of the Argentine mass movement of the last five years, the Zapatistas, West Papua, the repeated overthrow of the Bolivian and Ecuadorian governments...) - look at all this, and see which way the tide is turning. Capitalism is a global system, and globally, it is both unsustainable and is falling apart. Across the periphery capitalism is facing unprecedented mass resistance.

And the crackdown freakery of the control-freaks at the core is a response to this breakdown. There is a concerted effort to stir up fear of "crime" and "terrorism" to provide an ideological cover for the establishment of a global police state as a last-ditch attempt to preserve capitalism. In fact it is about as substantial as the similar claims made by aristocrats as the ancien regime was crumbling, that the fall of absolute monarchs and feudal distributions would lead to mayhem and slaughter, the end to all morals, etc etc. And once again when the Nazis conjured the menace of Bolshevism to justify their own "civilising mission". Let us be done with such hot air before it leads us once more into the hellish nightmares it has produced already.

armchair globetrotter


"How to Kill a Cop" Ill Bill Gangsta Rap Lyrics

16.10.2005 22:34

[Verse One]
Check out this new Ill Bill gimmick that's splendid
Since you're down with other shit let's see if you're down wit this
It's about strictly tryin to kill a cop
Once you get the hang of it, after you blast one you steal his glock
First of all you need a fat bag of dust plus the biscuit
Any local store sells the shit, friend
Purchase a milli', not that bitch Millie Jackson silly stunt
I'm talkin about the nine millimeter gun
Pick up the gat, scratch the serial numbers off
No fingerprints, surgical ones are my gloves of choice
All of these other cop killers be thinkin guns are toys
And when these cats get caught, they snitch on all they boys
I kill a cop on a solo mission; without a pair of gloves
Shot him in the face with a stolen biscuit
Then wiped my fingerprints off real careful
If you don't think you ready yet dog, just let the song prepare you

That's how you kill a cop (*repeat 6X*)
Let's all kill a cop, and get locked up, what

That's how you kill a cop -- peace to Necro
That's how you kill a cop -- peace to Necro
That's how you kill a cop (*repeat 4X*)
Let's all kill a cop, and get locked up

[Verse Two]
Yeahhhh!The second paragraph, might make you laugh
When a cat try to kill a cop and catch a plunger in the ass
That's when you know you got to take the gun from him
cause you bout to get snubbed next, and you hyped up, so FUCK runnin
And now the real fun begins son
You kill these ten cops, the best part, you walk away with ten guns
Now you the one that's takin gats from pigs
Imagine one gang, consistin of the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings
That's when you start to realize what the police is
Government funded gang-bangin thugs; that's what beast is
They say I'm evil, I'm the most righteous
Run up in precincts with assault rifles; kill police and throw bibles
Walked out the precinct leavin no survivors
Half his decapitated wig splattered across the precinct driveway
The watts was stuffed up his body, jerk and gyrate
Shoot him ten more times, then I merc off on the highway

That's how you kill a cop (*repeat 6X*)
Let's all kill a cop, and get locked up, what

That's how you kill a cop (*repeat 6X*)
Let's all kill a cop, and get locked up

[Verse Three]
Yeahhhh!Last but not least, Ill Bill like to say peace
to all the cop killers, from the Tri-State to the Middle East
And gimme some dust when I kick the bucket
Pistol or no pistol, when high I'm the wrong to be fucked with
So everybody put they gun up in the air
Cock it back and lick a shot like you just don't care
SO - PUMP UP THE VOLUME!!Screamin out, "Fuck cops!"
I'm out - peace to my pops, I'm off to the dust spots

Yeah, Ill Bill's in the house
Yeah, Goretex in the house
Yo, peace to my motherfuckin fam Non-Phixion
Yo, I'm out
Yo Necro, turn that shit off, man
TURN THAT FUCKIN SHIT OFF!!

Anon


yeah rap maaaaaaan

17.10.2005 18:43

yeah rap songs and rants with lots of swear words in them..yeah!!! that'll show those capitalist pigs hahaha i nearly wet myself.
if i were the government i'd be shitting myself haahahah NOT.
i'll sleep safe and sound tonight and every night knowing that your never going to achieve anything, which makes you about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike hahahahahaa.

keep swearing boys keep swearing ;-)


i dont read the daily mail... wake up hippies, you lot are still high from the ink off your freshley printed che guevara t-shirts.... living in the early 90's, smokin spliffs maaaan, gllaaaassstonbuuryyyyy maaaaaaaaaan.

haahha no f*****n hope.

UNCLE BERNIE


Shocking

17.10.2005 23:37

David,

Very interesting stuff.

If my memory serves me right, it was bloody cold around the 28th- July- 2005 .I remember walking in the local park with a jumper and jacket as the temperature was 11 degrees centigrade. Later that day/ week there was a T3 tornado in Birmingham- See Indymedia/ Birmingham. (This incidentally, would only happen because of adverse/ extreme weather conditions).

I think you have a very good case here to take legal action against the Met. It's just a shame it's at a time which would be all too embarrassing for our dear beloved government.

Keep up your fight and the good work :)

n/a

not available


Imagine

30.10.2005 16:16

Imagine if he was asian or looked of middle eastern origin? I doubt he'd be living to tell the tale.

Usayd
- Homepage: http://www.usayd.com


Point?

06.11.2005 20:59

Are these comments on the the misuse of Section 44(2) searches under the terrorism act by police in this incidence?
Or a platform to vent pointless bigotry towards Police officers and Activists alike?

Not all Officers are racist, corrupt, violent, inept just as not all activists are unemployed, thirty year old unwashed ex students, with dread locks, Che Guvara poster and a cannabis problem.



Anon


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